


Beggars Would Ride

by TrickyTricky



Series: An Unexpected Gift [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: ...That Might Be How The Force Works Here, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Does Anyone Actually Know How Hyperspace Works??, M/M, Space Battles, That's Not How The Force Works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-22 04:13:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15573513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrickyTricky/pseuds/TrickyTricky
Summary: Unlooked for opportunities could provide a chance for happiness if two damaged souls can find the strength to seize it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gondolin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gondolin/gifts).



> Many, many thanks to wrennette for helping to whip this story into shape.

Obi-Wan impatiently swiped a hand across his eyes in a vain attempt to clear his vision, no doubt smearing streaks of blood across his face. Bracing himself against the bulkhead, he heaved himself to his feet, staggering across the bridge towards the main helm controls. He stumbled once, nearly tripping over the body of his primary navigator. The young clone was one of the first casualties of the last devastating missile barrage that had crippled the Negotiator, the violent jolts of the heaving ship flinging personnel and objects across spaces and passageways like helpless dolls.

A planet thought to still be aligned with the neutral systems had begged the Republic for aid against what they had reported was a minor Separatist incursion, beyond their ability to repulse with local planetary security. Dooku's forces had reportedly laid claim to the mining facilities on one of their moons, siphoning away their primary trade resource and holding the workers and their families hostage, forcing them to labor in increasingly inhumane conditions. Never willing to waste an opportunity to sway public opinion in his government's favor, the Chancellor had ordered the immediate dispatch of what few ships Obi-Wan had readily available. Based on the estimates of Separatist forces operating in the area they had received from the petitioning world, it should have been an easy victory. Instead, when his ships had emerged from hyperspace, they were immediately bombarded by multi-axis missile strikes from an adversary fully prepared for their arrival, whose forces far outnumbered his own.

The bridge was illuminated the dull red of emergency lighting, brightened periodically by vivid showers of sparks leaping dramatically from consoles and overhead panels. The missile strikes had subsided for the moment, leaving the ship to shudder and list, venting atmosphere in the aftermath. The enemy could likely see that his flagship was already a crippled, smoking ruin and moved their attention to other, more lucrative targets, Obi-Wan bitterly mused.

Behind him he could hear Cody’s measured voice, gravelly and a little hoarse from the smoke beginning to filter into the bridge through the ventilation shafts. His commander had picked up the ship’s primary comm device from a fallen brother’s hand and was doing his best to direct the crew’s efforts to keep the ship together. Obi-Wan glanced back for a moment and found Cody raising his head at the same moment. When Obi-Wan looked at the familiar patterns of his commander’s helm he found his spine straightening a little more, his lips quirking up in an involuntary half smile. As always, Cody’s steady strength and determination managed to bolster his own, even when the most impossible odds were against them. The other man gave him a little nod of acknowledgment from across the bridge, not pausing his constant stream of directions to those throughout the ship who were still alive to hear and obey.

Those still uninjured enough to assist the damage control teams were making heroic efforts, but Obi-Wan could practically feel the ship’s life bleeding out into space. Weapons systems and shields had been wiped out in the first massive wave of missiles. Sub-light engines, navigation computation, all were gone shortly after, in addition to a dozen other critical systems.

His own comm was blasting transmissions from Anakin and Ahsoka, both out in fighters leading attack squadrons, fighting viciously to attrite the enemy forces as much as possible and give their own ships enough space to maneuver, pull back, and try to withdraw from the engagement.

The Force shrieked a warning at the same moment Ahsoka's voice increased in volume.

"Master Kenobi! The Resolute is reporting they've lost steerage control and their aft and starboard thrusters are malfunctioning; they’re out of control, engaged in a full-power burn. They're slewing directly towards your current position. You have to move the Negotiator _now_ or they're going to slam right into you!"

Time seemed to slow, each moment bizarrely attenuated, as it sometimes had during the worst moments of crisis in his life. Obi-Wan’s mind ran through scenarios even as his fingers were already dancing across the console in front of him and entering command codes that would override every safety measure designed to prevent the insane maneuver he would need to accomplish.

Nothing was left of his own sub-light thrusters but smoking craters. If the two star cruisers collided there would be no chance of survival for the thousands of souls on board either of the vessels. A large part of him cried out in horror at what his decision would mean for the surviving members of the 212th on this ship who were counting on him to find a way through this for them, but he ruthlessly continued forward on the only course left. At least if this worked, the men of the 501st on board their sister ship would still have a chance.

He hesitated, holding his fingers still above the final key. He had a few seconds he could spare.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan paused, breathing in deeply. He knew there was no way to truly ease this, no comfort he could offer that would be sufficient, but he had to give what he could. “Anakin, Ahsoka, please look after each other. The paths have seemed dark recently, but if you hold to each other and to the goodness in your hearts, you will make it through. It has been an honor to fight beside you both. I’m so proud of the Jedi you have become.”

With those simple words, the silent countdown that had been ticking along in his head came to an end. There was so much more he wished he could say. Cody had fallen silent behind him, sensing his dread and his resolve. With no time remaining, just moments before the Resolute would have smashed into their vessel, Obi-Wan reached out and pressed his hand against the console, initiating a blind, suicidal jump into hyperspace.

 

  
The space that the Negotiator had occupied only moments before seemed to glitter for a moment in the wake of the ship’s passage, before the Resolute came careening through, avoiding disaster by only the narrowest margins.

Ahsoka could only stare in silent dismay through the canopy of her cockpit, listening to her master yell increasingly incoherent pleas and demands over the comm. Somehow, she knew that the jump Master Obi-Wan and the 212th had just made was a terribly final one, and even the Chosen One himself could not bend the universe to his will to make it otherwise.


	2. Chapter 2

Several days had passed since General Kenobi’s desperate gambit and none of the crew could look at the never-ending blur of stars visible through the ship's viewscreens without flinching. Each one of those tiny innocuous streaks represented a star system occupied by millions of deadly objects that would have spelled their destruction if it had been positioned just a fraction closer to their random path through space. Their ship was constantly dancing on the edge of annihilation, and no one could stop the deranged cantina band from playing on until the end. Cody knew he wasn’t the only one avoiding the bridge, with its immense forward viewscreen that now showed them nothing but their oncoming destruction, somehow barely averted with every second that passed.

When Cody finally tracked his general down, the Jedi was inspecting one of generators in the aft engine-room, deep in discussion with the small group of repair technicians that were working in the space. They had successfully re-routed power from this and the handful of other working power generators spread throughout the ship to ensure they could maintain the necessary environmental and regulatory systems needed to keep them alive and the ship functioning, but the strain on the overworked systems was beginning to show. Cody was no mechanical expert, but even he could tell that the high-pitched tone the generator was emitting was not a good sign.

As he entered the space, the group looked to be finishing up their discussion; General Kenobi clapped one of the technicians on the shoulder and leaned in close to exchange a few words before turning to go. The men returned their attention to the machinery in front of them, renewed determination visible on all of their faces. Cody noted with concern the way Obi-Wan lifted one hand to rub wearily at his temple when he thought himself unobserved, the small but noticeable slump of exhaustion that weighed down his shoulders.

When he raised his eyes and saw Cody standing near the entry hatch, Obi-Wan paused for a moment, visibly taken aback. It spoke volumes about his level of exhaustion that he hadn’t been able to sense Cody’s presence before that point. Cody’s frown deepened as Obi-Wan straightened his posture and clasped his hands behind his back, giving his commander a small, casual nod of greeting.

If the slippery son of a gundark hadn’t spent the past four hours on the move, deliberately avoiding Cody’s increasingly exasperated attempts to track him down and corner him so he could wrangle him into a rack to get some rest, Cody might have been fooled.

Cody let his body language speak for him and used every micron of their small height difference to look down at his general and project stern disapproval for the other man’s reckless disregard of his own health.

“Sir.”

“Commander,” Obi-Wan replied simply, refusing to be baited.

Despite himself Cody couldn’t help but feel a small glow of pleasure in his gut at the amount of rueful fondness his general managed to convey with his tone, even within that one-word greeting. He felt his lips ease out of their frown and begin to curve upward without his permission. He quickly rearranged his face back into a stern expression. Regardless of his helmet, he just knew the general could sense his smile somehow, and it wouldn’t do to encourage him. Cody tilted his head a little in silent invitation and was relieved when Obi-Wan joined him with no further coaxing required.

The two men easily matched paces as they made their way down the passageway, other members of the crew smoothly stepping aside to make room for the officers. Cody could feel the distinct hum of hyperspace travel in the deckplates under his boots as they walked, a constant reminder of their situation. He noted indications of their ship’s dire condition everywhere, from the faint smell of smoke that lingered on every level to the occasional exposed wires and open panels where repairs had begun and been abandoned in favor of more essential systems during the desperate triage process.

Cody had been at General Kenobi’s side for years during some of the most intense combat of the war, through countless battles, sieges, and assaults, and as such, could tell exactly how much mental and physical effort Obi-Wan was putting into projecting an appearance of normalcy. By Cody’s count, it had been at least three days since the general had gotten any sleep at all.

He was not above taking advantage of his general’s current weary lack of focus to herd him in the direction Cody wanted.

Obi-Wan didn’t actually balk until he found himself standing in front of the entrance to his own quarters, clearly not entirely sure how they had arrived. He blinked at the control panel for a moment in vague befuddlement. Before he could do more than open his mouth in protest, Cody firmly grasped him by the elbow, palmed the door open with his free hand, and dragged Obi-Wan into the room.

“Cody, I don’t—”

“Sir, I have some status reports that I was hoping to review with you in a private setting,” Cody said in a no-nonsense tone, unclipping a datapad from his utility belt and brandishing it at the stubborn Jedi.

Cody grew up on a planet dominated by its oceans. Even within the strict training regimens the Kaminoans had enforced there had been some opportunities for liberty; he knew how to bait a hook. With the promise of official responsibilities to complete, Obi-Wan’s protests quickly died.

“Of course, you should have said so immediately.”

Cody heroically held back the eye roll and loud scoff that tried to break free, restraining himself to a barely audible sigh. He kept his hand under the general’s elbow and led him further into the room. Obi-Wan tried to slow their progress as they neared the small conference table that dominated the office portion of the sector army commander’s quarters, but Cody kept moving, his momentum easily keeping Obi-Wan’s feet moving alongside him. The thin privacy panel that separated Obi-Wan’s sleeping area from his work space slid open as they approached, and Cody propelled Obi-Wan forward, spinning him around and giving him a final gentle nudge so that he fell with a slight thump to the surface of his rack.

Cody himself grabbed the single small chair in the space and positioned it so that he could sit alongside and began to wordlessly pull up the files he had ready for review on the datapad.

“Now see here, Cody—”

“Sir,” Cody interrupted the general yet again. “You are dead on your feet. You’ve been fighting through a migraine for at least the past day, possibly longer. The ship is as stable as we can make her in our current circumstances. We have been careening through unmapped regions of the galaxy at hyperspeed for over three days and there is nothing you can do to fix that right now. The best technicians on the ship worked with you for over two days to try to pull us out, and you all concluded the glitch in the systems keeping us in hyperspace simply cannot be repaired with our current resources. This ship will remain in hyperspace until we either run out of fuel or collide with an object in space and get vaporized instantaneously. Either way, you driving yourself into the ground won’t do anyone any good.

“Now. You and I are going to spend ten minutes reviewing these status reports so that you can be assured that everything that _is_ within our span of control is being handled. And then you are going to lay down and close your eyes. And you are not going to move your shebs off of that mattress until you get at least six hours of racktime. Are we clear, general?”

It was somehow equal amounts of reassuring and terrifying to watch his general’s outrage dim and slowly fade away as he spoke, to see the other man’s posture slump over until he was resting his elbows on his knees, wordlessly bowing his head and burying his face in his hands. Obi-Wan murmured something too softly for him to catch and Cody scooted his chair closer, one hand twitching, nearly reaching out but stopping himself at the last moment. Instead he carefully clasped his hands together in his lap and leaned in close, listening, his own head bowing in a silent show of solidarity.

“I’m so sorry.” The smoothly accented voice that Cody usually admired so much was unsteady and rough now, his whispers barely audible. “I made a choice that has condemned us all. You trusted me and I’ve betrayed every single one of you so terribly. I am just— so very, very sorry.”

There had been many times, lying alone in the dark of his small cabin, when Cody had minutely examined every interaction, eventually convincing himself that he was imagining a shared connection. That he was alone in feeling this physical pull, this painfully strong attraction. Over and over again he would accept that, embrace it. Only to meet a pair of stormy blue eyes that seemed to burn with unspoken desires over a holotable, or to relish the feeling of another’s fingers lingering just a few seconds too long against his own as they passed a datapad between them.

The entire cycle of doubts and questioning would begin again. In his more steady moments, Cody knew that what he felt was real, and that those feelings were returned. He knew it was their own doubts and insecurities that kept them apart, at least as much as any consideration of their relative positions and duties within the GAR.

In this space, in this time, none of those physical desires or fervent hopes for a more intimate relationship mattered.

The man sitting next to him wracking himself with misplaced guilt needed a friend right now, not a lover. He could certainly offer that much, at least.

Cody reached his hand out and rested it gently against the nape of Obi-Wan’s neck. The general twitched a little at the unexpected touch, breathing in sharply and tensing up for a moment, before relaxing abruptly under his palm.

“That’s just not so, sir,” Cody murmured almost as softly, beginning to move his hand, gently at first, then more firmly, applying careful pressure in small, even strokes against the muscle under his fingers. He twitched a little despite himself at the softly pleased sigh that shuddered out of Obi-Wan as Cody continued to massage the remaining tension out of his neck. “You saved us all. I was on that bridge. I know exactly what happened. Rex and all of our brothers on the Resolute are alive and have a chance at making it through that kriffing mess of a battle because of your quick thinking. We are still alive ourselves, only because of what you did for us. You gave us a fighting chance and that is all any of us would ever have asked of you.”

Obi-Wan didn’t say anything in response, but Cody felt a little more of that crippling tension release its hold on the man under his hand. He took a chance and lifted his other hand, resting it on Obi-Wan’s shoulder and pressing him gently towards the mattress. The general let himself be eased down without any resistance, twisting around until he was facing the bulkhead and curled up on his side, keeping his face buried in his own hands the whole time.

Cody didn’t want to leave it like this, not when the other man was still clearly hurting so much. Nothing eased his own headaches more, or felt quite as comforting, as a brother gently massaging his scalp. He wanted with everything in him to offer that same ease and comfort to his general. So, he slid over until he was halfway seated on the bunk and moved the hand that was resting on his neck up a little higher. He alternated light, comforting strokes of his fingers through that golden hair (it was just as soft as he had always imagined) with more firm pressure and rotating motions, trying to massage at least some of that terrible pain and pressure away.

As the minutes passed, he could feel Obi-Wan relax more and more beside him, until finally the exhausted man fell under, his breath evening out into quiet snuffling snores that Cody couldn’t help but find adorable.

He stayed by his general’s side just a little longer, a superstitious part of him hoping his presence would help ward off any unpleasant dreams. If this was as much as they could ever have, if the endless complications and circumstances that conspired against them kept them from ever exploring anything more, he would take it and be grateful for the twist of fate that gave him the opportunity to serve alongside this strong, clever, beautiful man.

For now, he smiled softly and quietly reveled in the warm glow of the trust placed in him by the man sleeping soundly beside him. He could afford to stay a little longer by his side, just like this.


	3. Chapter 3

Only a handful of mission essential personnel were allowed on the bridge, despite the throngs of men who had requested the privilege. The rest of the troopers were strapped in to crash positions as well as they were able in the remaining habitable portions of the ship.

No one knew what situation they would find when they finally emerged from hyperspace, but they knew it was imminent.

Somehow, miraculously, they had survived up to this point. That fact spat in the face of everything any of them had ever learned about astro-navigation and the hazards of an object moving at that speed through uncleared, unmapped regions of space. Obi-Wan didn’t know whether he could credit the Force for their incredible odds-defying survival, but it did seem as though some benevolent power in the galaxy was favoring them.

He could feel the ship shaking intermittently around them, already-damaged engines eking out the last dregs of fuel as the overtaxed warship continued to press forward at maximum speed along their randomly chosen track. Just over one week had passed since they made that initial, insane jump during the battle. Obi-Wan had never heard of any ship successfully undertaking such an extended, full-powered burn in a straight-line shot through hyperspace before. 

The distance they must have traveled was far beyond anything a vessel would normally cover in a similar span of time; typically, vessels traveled along circuitous, well-mapped hyperspace lanes, moving at far more economical speeds to conserve fuel. They were in the Outer Rim, near Bakura, when their forces had been engaged in battle. Obi-Wan had no way of knowing which precise direction the ship had been oriented when he made that jump, but he was convinced they were moving rimward, away from the galactic core. Their odds of avoiding all potential space debris, already unimaginably small, would have quickly become impossible if they had been moving towards the more dense core systems. The only plausible theory to even begin to explain their survival was that they had jumped in the opposite direction.

That fact did not bode well for their prospects of rescue.

Obi-Wan kept his hands balanced lightly on the primary flight controls, trying in vain to reach out with the Force and feel anything about what was to come. The very fate of the galaxy somehow felt balanced on a vibro-blade’s edge, but he could glean nothing specific that would help guide him into any concrete action. He strained further, questing out with blind and weary fingers across the vague, blurry threads of possible futures, trying to detect any hints of what might lay ahead.

He was surprised to feel a small flash of hope forming golden and giddy inside him, the unexpected emotion breaking free in a little burst of quiet but genuine laughter. Out of nowhere he found himself thinking closely on his old master. He let his eyes flutter closed for the span of a few heartbeats and could vividly imagine Qui Gon Jinn, hovering tall and resolute at his shoulder, chiding him to keep his mind on the present moment. When he blinked them back open, he found Cody casting a strange look towards him across the bridge, no doubt curious about his little outburst. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling warmly back in his direction, their eyes locking together in a shared moment of connection. Ever since that night in his room, when he had so shamefully broken down and Cody had offered him nothing but kindness and comfort and much-needed affection, something undefined had eased between them.

Recently it seemed as if every second had been filled with chaotic urgency and life-or-death decisions, constantly running from one emergency to the next without pause, only stopping long enough to collapse into exhausted sleep when Cody caught up with him and insisted strongly enough. He was in desperate need of a window of calm long enough for a true meditation session. There were so many conflicting impulses and emotions clamoring within him that he had yet to untangle and process. And his steady, painfully handsome commander was central to so much of it, the intensity within his hazel eyes causing little flutters of nerves to light off in Obi-Wan's belly even now. Obi-Wan knew he would need to find a place of peace and balance within himself before he could seriously consider what changes might be possible in their future.

The moment was broken when the Negotiator gave one last fierce shudder, heaved violently to one side, then dropped abruptly back into normal space. Obi-Wan spared only a moment to bless the sight of anything besides that endless, infuriating field of streaking stars in the viewscreen, before he cursed and yanked viciously on the flight controls in his hand, trying desperately to bleed off some of the ship’s forward momentum. They had emerged far too close to a planet for safety, a green, gray, and blue globe taking up far more of the forward viewscreen than any of them would have wanted. He would need all of his skill and focus as a pilot to get them over this next hurdle.

His ship gave him everything she could, but the controls were responding far too sluggishly. The mechanics had worked around the clock in shifts to restore functionality to a number of the less powerful maneuvering thrusters, but they had only been able to get one of the sub-light engines in any kind of working order. There just wasn’t enough power available for him to pull off the maneuvers he needed to accomplish.

He opened a ship-wide comm channel.

“All hands, this is General Kenobi. We have emerged from hyperspace but are caught in the gravity well of a planet. The functioning thrusters do not have enough power to escape it. There will be a great deal of turbulence as the ship moves through the atmosphere, and if we hold together through that, an impact when we make contact with the surface. All hands, brace for impact. I repeat, all hands, brace for impact.”

He saw the bridge crew tightening their restraining straps out of the corner of his eyes as their hands flew across their consoles, monitoring critical systems and sensor readings, calling out updates as necessary, doing what trouble-shooting they could from their workstations as more and more systems began to short out and break apart as they plunged down into the upper atmosphere.

The turbulence was dreadful, rattling his teeth and spine and tossing him against his restraining straps with bruising force until he thought his very body would shake apart along with his ship. The air became uncomfortable to breath as the environmental systems began to fail, overwhelmed by the friction-generated heat from their violent descent to the planet. He steadied the ship as much as he was able, falling into a trance-like state where he let the Force guide him, making minute course corrections with the tiny bursts of power he could wring from the thrusters until those too began to burn out, one by one.

His beautiful flagship was too big and too ungainly to do this gracefully or well, meant for the glory of facing off against enemy capital ships in the vacuum of space, not this gliding re-entry, but she gave him everything she had, and he stroked his fingers deftly over her controls and thanked her for it.

The moment before the Negotiator struck the earth of the planet, he carefully tucked his tongue behind his teeth and closed his eyes, stretching out his hands and reaching out with the Force. That was the last thing he knew for some time.


	4. Chapter 4

When Obi-Wan opened his eyes again he found himself inside a medical tent. He blinked up at the gently rippling canvas, bewildered for a moment, but comforted by the familiar chemical scents and the voices of dozens of clones chatting quietly amongst themselves, each with their own unique intonations and verbal quirks.

“General!”

Obi-Wan tried to turn his head to look over at the call, but froze at the stabbing pain that shot through his neck at the movement. A medic bustled into his sightline a moment later, lifting a portable scanner to hover over his chest.

“Dealer,” Obi-Wan said genially, trying out a little smile that even he could tell was strained. Now that it had his attention, his body was trying to pull his focus away to a hundred different aches and pains, most of them small and easily set aside with a little bit of mental discipline. “So good to see you made it. I’ll need a status report as soon as possible, so if you could see your way clear—”

“Good to see you with us again, too, sir,” the medic interrupted with a broad smile that looked far more genuine than his own felt. “But by all that is holy, you will remain in that cot until I get you properly checked out.”

Dealer continued to smile brightly at his recalcitrant patient, one heavily muscled arm clamping down on his general’s shoulder in a preemptive restraint. Obi-Wan pursed his lips in annoyance; he had barely tensed his muscles in preparation for an attempt to rise. The time when he could pull a fast one over on his clone trooper medics was unfortunately long past.

“Commander Cody and the other officers have things well in hand. Now that you’re conscious, you’ll be able to answer the questions we need to complete your medical evaluation. We’ve been concerned about how long you’ve been out, sir. The first salvage teams pulled out several functional medical field scanners, but your readings didn’t show any major trauma; at least not the type that would explain the long bout of unconsciousness.”

Obi-Wan took a moment to quiet his mind and thought back. He remembered the planet looming larger and larger in the viewscreen, the tilt and heat and turbulence of re-entry. He remembered a moment of distracted optimism as they got close enough to the surface to make out that the foliage covering the surface appeared at first glance to be human-compatible deciduous types. He had quickly lost that small spark of hope as the ship began to make contact with the first of those tall trees, its huge mass and momentum breaking through the great trunks like they were twigs, the splintering lumber ripping huge gashes into her tough metal belly as she crashed through them.

Then…just before the ship struck the surface…he remembered reaching out into the Force, feeling the unique sparks of his troopers’ lives surrounding him like fireflies. He had reached out his arms, spreading his fingers wide in a subconscious reflection of his spirit as he expanded his aura to encompass and cradle all of those precious lights within it. 

The rest was darkness. Had he done something within the Force? He could almost recall something reaching back….but it slipped further away the longer he tried to focus on it.

“How many did we lose in the crash?”

Dealer looked up from his scanner, his persistent smile falling away for a moment before returning a little dimmer, not quite reaching his eyes this time.

“Only two, sir. Even with everyone strapped into crash positions in the more secure interior cabins, it’s some kind of kriffing miracle the casualties ended up as light as they were. Reed and Bey had both sustained significant injuries during the battle and were still in critical condition in the med bay when we went down. The stress of re-entry was just too much for them.”

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and shared a moment of silent grief with the man standing beside him. He set the names of the lost in his memory. Reed. Bey. There were thousands of clone troopers under his direct, personal command, between the 212th Battalion and the crew of the Negotiator. Personnel rotated in and out on a near-constant basis to replace battlefield losses. He had never had an opportunity to personally meet the two individuals who had passed into the Force during the crash; the least he could do would be to honor their last sacrifice by remembering the great service they had done for the Republic while under his command.

When the general looked up again and met his eyes, Dealer found his shoulders squaring and his spine straightened a bit despite himself with that intense expression focused solely on him. 

“I truly appreciate the care you and your brothers have provided me, but this is no time for me to be lying about on a cot. Now, tell me exactly what I must do to satisfy you that I am well enough to be released to help sort out the mess we currently find ourselves in.”

 

*

 

Cody accepted the hand held out by Boil, letting the other man take some of his weight as he hoisted himself out of the ship’s hull, carefully avoiding the jagged edges of metal surrounding the giant breach in her side. He clambered the rest of the way down, using the jury-rigged handholds and ropes to make his way down several stories of twisted metal that used to comprise one of the Republic’s most advanced capital ships.

He had left strict instructions with the troopers on duty in the medical tent that he was to be informed of any changes in the general’s status. When the comm device on his wrist activated, he experienced a moment of sheer terror, disconcertingly reminiscent of facing down a wave of battledroids on the most harrowing battlefields. His breath caught with an equally strong swell of relief when he was informed that General Kenobi had regained consciousness and was being released by the medics, on the condition of restricting himself to a light, limited duty status.

May the Force be with them all as they tried to enforce _that_.

When Cody reached the ground, he spared a brief moment to try to brush the worst of the accumulated oil, soot, and grit from his blacks before giving it up as a lost cause. His armor would have been a welcome buffer during the morning’s work, but was just not practical in the close confines of the debris-filled passageways. The interior of the ship was a wreck, and he had been directing and assisting the teams squeezing in and out of tight, warped spaces all morning, pulling out any gear that looked remotely salvageable. He turned towards their makeshift camp and only kept himself from breaking into an undignified jog by forcibly reminding himself of the instructions that had been drilled into him as a cadet.

> “As officers, you will never run in view of the rank-and-file troopers unless you are on a battlefield or it is a true emergency. Your subordinates should always be able to look up and see you calm and in control of the situation. This is one of the ways in which you lead.”

He was still a leader, and it would do no good for anyone’s nerves to see their commander sprinting through the camp just when things were beginning to settle into a sense of calm.

By the time Cody turned the last corner leading to the area where they had set up the command post, he could already make out General Kenobi’s distinct accent over the noise of the bustling camp, projecting confidence and giving direction to the men around him. A tiny, tense part of him that he hadn’t even realized was still clenched tight relaxed as he let the sound wash over him.

He finally spotted Obi-Wan leaning over a small table with his back turned in his direction. The surface of the table was barely visible, covered in sheets of flimsi weighted down by rocks alongside several datapads. The general was resting one hand lightly on its surface, the other stroking his beard thoughtfully. His head was nestled close to Gregor and Waxer’s as the three men pored over the information in front of them, consulting briefly over matters before calling out updated instructions to the men surrounding them who broke off to form up working parties as directed.

“…eventually we will need to come back to the matter of the chemical leaks and resulting contamination, but for now I agree that ensuring we have a camp set up for what will potentially be a long-term habitation is the top priority.”

“General Kenobi!” Cody tried to dial the pleasure in his voice down to acceptable levels and knew he hadn’t succeeded when he saw the smirks the officers around the table made little effort to hide. He couldn’t help it; seeing the general up and around and being his usual competent self just filled him with a warm glow of happiness. “You’ll have to tell me what you used to bribe the medics into releasing you so quickly. Might come in handy one of these days.”

At first, he didn’t quite know what to make of the utterly pole-axed look that appeared on Obi-Wan’s face when he turned and caught sight of Cody striding up in just his filthy blacks. He could almost think he was imagining things when he saw Obi-Wan’s eyes flicker down his body for a brief moment, before being wrenched back up to make determined eye contact. But then, he caught a glimpse of that clever pink tongue sneaking out to wet Obi-Wan’s lips, almost hidden by his beard.

There was no mistaking it. That was an appreciative look. He barely repressed a full-body shudder as he considered all of the places on his skin-tight blacks his general’s eyes had lingered on. And as it so happened, he knew precisely what he wanted to do about that.

 

*

 

The rotation period for this planet appeared to be just slightly shorter than Coruscant-standard, and the last glow of twilight was beginning to fade by the time Cody made it back to the center of camp following his final self-appointed errand for the day. With the passing of daylight, a sharp cold had descended swiftly, leaving men scurrying for their assigned tents to bundle up and get some shut-eye.

He was finally satisfied that the camp was secure after walking the entire perimeter and verifying that patrols were roving as assigned, sentries alert on duty with their reliefs identified, and all of the men had been issued the equipment they needed to either find their rest or complete their duties overnight. They were missing over half of their encampment supplies; it was either still buried behind a mountain of twisted metal within the ship wreckage, or had been lost from one of the many compartments that had vented into space during the battle. On balance, running short on tents and sleepsacks was a fairly minor problem compared to what they could have been facing. For now, they had managed to find just enough room for everyone by doubling up men into tent spaces meant for singles; while it made for a tight squeeze, most were actually grateful for the excuse for more shared body warmth and the reassurance of close contact with their brothers after their recent experiences.

As expected, Cody found Obi-Wan still leaning over that rickety little command table, alone now that everyone else had been dismissed to either stand sentry duty or get some rest for the day to come. His only concession to the darkness and the rising cold was draping a cloak over his shoulders and balancing a glowstick precariously against a stack of datapads. The several sheets of flimsi had evolved into small piles, still weighted down by rocks to keep them from blowing away in the increasingly brisk gusts of wind. He was a little less subtle about resting some of his weight on the table now that he thought himself unobserved, leaning heavily on both arms and listing a bit to the side as he favored his right leg.

“We’re still hoping one of the salvage teams will find an intact FX-3 in one of the med bay storage units. At this point I’d be willing to trade a night spent serving in a Hutt's pleasure den if it meant we’d have at least one functional full-service medical droid out here on this rock.”

Cody startled a bit and blinked several times rapidly at the imagery of the sudden statement seemingly directed at the air; apparently the general wasn’t as unaware of his presence as he had assumed.

“I don't think things are quite as dire as all that just yet,” Cody teased gently, joining Obi-Wan at the table and standing just close enough that it could be seen as an invitation without being intrusive. “We’re in decent shape for food as long as we ration carefully, the vaporators are set up and working well, and as long as the weather doesn’t significantly worsen, we can survive with our current shelters indefinitely. It looks like we did lose a lot of the medical supplies and equipment when we took that bad hit on the starboard side, but we still have all of our trained field medics with us, and once we manage to cut through the debris, I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll find the aft med-bay largely intact.”

Cody looked down and smiled when Obi-Wan accepted his unspoken offer and leaned in against his side, just a bit, taking a little more weight off the leg that was clearly hurting him.

“Would you mind terribly tracking down a few more of those glows for me, Commander?” Obi-Wan asked absently, leaning down further to squint at the reports and inventory sheets littering the table in front of him. “It’s getting damnably hard to see and there are a few more things I wanted to get sorted through tonight.”

Instead of doing as he was asked, Cody reached over and snagged the one glowstick on the table, holding it at his side and reaching his other arm out to wrap lightly around Obi-Wan’s waist. He kept his fingers feather-light at first, waiting for the slightest indication that the touch was unwelcome. When that didn’t come, he let himself relax a fraction and grip his general just a little bit tighter.

 

*

 

Obi-Wan blinked up at Cody when the table top went dark, leaning a little further into the warm and welcome strength pressing against his side before he could think of a reason why he shouldn’t. Now that Cody was insisting, in his own wordless way, he supposed it probably was about time to call it a night. Their encampment was as secure and organized as their combined efforts could make it for now, and everything else could wait until the morning.

Looking around at his dark surroundings, Obi-Wan found himself a bit at a loss. Now that he considered it, he never had gotten around to sorting out his own sleeping arrangements…

Obi-Wan mutely obeyed the tug at his waist, moving in step with his commander as they began to make their way across the inner ring of the camp, appreciating and relaxing into the silent comradery. It was a great relief to finally be able to duck into shelter when Cody held open a small tent flap for him. The wind was quickly turning vicious, the cold seeping under his cloak and tunics to light up every bruise and torn muscle, making the pain of his twisted knee flare up with renewed vigor.

“Everyone’s doubling up,” he heard Cody murmur quietly behind him as he made his way deeper into the small tent, giving his commander room to finish securing the entrance behind them. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

 _On the contrary_ , Obi-Wan caught himself thinking in a decidedly lecherous tone before giving himself a hasty mental slap. Where was his control?

When Obi-Wan saw the small portable heating unit set up next to the single pile of bedding, he opened his mouth to protest the luxury, before subsiding with a small sigh. He was too tired for an argument he would doubtlessly lose; he would just have to make sure the machine was placed where it would benefit someone who needed it more for tomorrow.

Even with the heater, the tent was cold enough that Obi-Wan kept most of his clothing on, only setting aside his belt, sash, tabards, and boots, then draped his cloak over the shared bedding to add one more layer of warmth. Cody would certainly still be the more comfortable of the two of them, in his heat-regulating blacks. Embracing the peaceful quiet that had fallen, Obi-Wan laid down on the far edge of the bedding, leaving as much space open as he could. 

He curled up on his side, an almost tangible ache forming in his belly as he issued the silent invitation, hoping Cody would be able to read it, to somehow understand what he needed when Obi-Wan barely understood it himself. When he felt that strong body lie down behind him and immediately turn and curl in close, far closer than he needed to be, he nearly wept at the powerful swell of relief. Cody leaned away for just a moment to pull the blankets up until they were covered in a heavy cocoon of warmth, then lay back down and nudged in even closer than before, reaching out and placing his arm tentatively around his waist. Obi-Wan arched his back a little in welcome and laced his fingers through Cody’s, clutching that strong arm tightly to his chest in wordless answer, letting himself relax back into the blissful sensation of that full-body contact as he felt a shaky exhale against the back of his neck. Cody rearranged him with little nudges here and there until they were pressed together from head to knees to ankle into one seamless line of comfort. 

He could barely tell where he ended and Cody began, and he had never felt so content in his life. All thoughts of appropriate appearances and the need to fulfill duty above all else fled into the night. Obi-Wan could not recall ever feeling so light and free and at the same time so safe and cherished as he was in the arms of this man.

Eventually Obi-Wan fell into a light doze but roused a little when he felt soft lips press gently against his neck and heard the quiet rumble of Cody’s voice whisper into the darkness.

“I have no idea how we got here,” Cody’s voice was soft with wonder and every word caused his lips to brush against Obi-Wan’s neck like tiny strokes of a hummingbird’s wings. “I feel terrible for even thinking it, but this almost feels like a gift. Like someone reached out and pulled the dearest wish from my soul and brought it to life. What are the odds we would survive that hyperspace jump? Then all those days through unmapped space? And at the end of all that, crash onto this planet, with its breathable air, clean water, edible plants, temperate weather... I’ve seen you Jedi use that Force of yours to do amazing things, but until today I never really believed there could be a power so big that it touched everything in the universe and bound it all together. Including me. And you.”

“Cody, I —“

“But now I do. After today, I can see it. I can’t imagine being so foolish as to reject this gift it’s given us. We’ll never stop trying to make our way back to Republic space and our brothers still fighting in that war, if we have the chance to. It’s what we were made for and every one of us knows our duty. But, in the meantime, we can have this, can’t we? I wished over and over again for an opportunity to hold you like this. I don’t know how you feel, but I hope you’ll be willing to give this a chance. I know I could be happy living the rest of my life here by your side if that’s the way things turn out. I’d do my utmost to make you happy as well. I want to see you safe and at peace every day. To see you relaxed and smiling for hours at a time, all day long, not just in stolen snatches between the blood and the battles and the pain. I want—“

“Cody,” Obi-Wan finally interrupted, his voice choked up and trembling. “Please, that’s enough.”

For a terrible moment, Cody froze, then began to draw away, certain his touch was too much, had become unwelcome. Then he registered that although Obi-Wan’s hands were shaking, they were still gripping his arms tightly where they wrapped around him, not letting him withdraw by so much as an inch.

“I’ve wished for this too.”

The words were nearly inaudible, as if the Jedi was afraid the universe would hear him if he spoke any louder and strike him down for his selfishness.

“I love my life as a Jedi and I would never willingly abandon my brothers and sisters in the Order, but a part of me has wanted to take you all away from these constant battles. To have space and time away from the blood soaked reality my existence has become these last years. And every night, every single night, I wished I could be with you like this.”

With that affirmation Cody bowed his head in helpless gratitude, pressing his lips against Obi-Wan’s neck over and over again, no words left to express the love overflowing his heart, beating against the inside of his ribcage like furious wings made of beskar.

The love and care between the two men was almost tangible as they continued to hold each other closely throughout the night.

And yes, there was arousal, too, on both their parts. Obi-Wan felt a gentle heat spread through his blood and bones, every inch of his skin craving more contact with the body behind him. He could feel an answering swell of desire from Cody, manifesting physically in the body pressed so tightly against his. For now, they remained content to be still, to relish in their new-found closeness. Although there was desire, there was no room for urgency here in this space. 

These moments felt rare and precious, something they could let themselves have here, now, in this oasis away from the roles and responsibilities that had previously held them back. 

There was always tomorrow to explore all of the new paths this chapter of their lives would open for them. They had time now.


End file.
